"On a pitch for" serious people "who lead to Shenzhen" Interview with Keisuke Taji, Aeronext Co., Ltd.

"The 2019 Innovation Nanshan Entrepreneurship Star Contest", an international pitch competition for startups in Shenzhen, China. Continuing from last year, in 2019, Shibuya Ward and Nanshan Ward, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, China will collaborate to hold the qualifying round in Japan.

Online entry is until Friday, July 26th. Companies that have passed the document screening will be given the right to participate in the Japan Qualifying Tournament scheduled to be held on August 22 (Thursday), and the qualifying winner will be invited to the World Tournament to be held in Nanshan District, Shenzhen City in October (scheduled). Will be.

This time, we would like to talk to Keisuke Taji, CEO of Aeronext Co., Ltd., who passed the 2018 Japan Qualifying and won the 3rd place in the world competition, and also won the Intellectual Property Award for his intellectual property strategy. I did.

Aeronext Co., Ltd. is a drone architecture research institute that realizes the ideal form of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and multicopter airframe frames. We are also working on the licensing business with the aim of establishing the original center of gravity control technology "4D GRAVITY®", which was invented by the company and highly evaluated at the pitch, as a standard technology for industrial drones in the world.

The 2018 Japan Qualifying was our first pitch. Mr. Taji says. After that, the company participated in many pitches and gained a lot of evaluations, but the beginning was in this Japan qualifying.

"I think everyone who goes there for the first time will be surprised by the energy of the city of Shenzhen. For example, the implementation of new social infrastructure such as cashless society is progressing very much, and all the workers are energetic and above all speed. There is a feeling. The energy that a venture company should have is overflowing in Shenzhen. Therefore, I was very interested in Shenzhen, and I was attracted to the pitch leading to Shenzhen and decided to participate.

At the world championships in Shenzhen, I was able to feel good because of the atmosphere of the city. The response was good, and of course we won the 3rd place, but I think that receiving the evaluation of the Intellectual Property Award was a great achievement as a company that puts intellectual property at the center of our management strategy. "

The pitch is hosted by the Shenzhen Ritsumeikan University Research Institute (RITS) and its affiliated organization, Leaguer X, which invests in international technology companies. Mr. Taji says that the help he got from Leaguer X after going through the pitch was especially great.

"I was told that Aeronext can help a lot if it does business in China. It's up to Mr. Taji to decide how to use LeaguerX.

Of course, if you really want to do it in China, you need funds, but LeaguerX, which has close ties with the government and companies, supported the human resources resources to create a local team. "

In addition, it seems that Aeronext had such a vision when expanding its business to China.

"Generally, it is very difficult for foreign companies to succeed in China, as it is said that there is no successful Japanese company in China. China is a market where there is a high risk of counterfeiting and theft. It is at this pitch. Even in the Japan qualifying round, Judge Tsuyoshi Natsuno pointed out that there is a risk of being stolen by participating in the world tournament, and I agree.

However, we believe that our "4D GRAVITY®" is a good technology, so if we hesitate to expand into China, other technologies will spread, resulting in drone accidents and the drone industry itself will stagnate. I thought it would be better for our technology to spread and the industry to be activated and expanded, even if it was stolen, rather than in the future. It may be called a green belief (laughs).

Also, I think that how we perceive the Chinese market is, in the extreme, a showcase to the global market. China is undoubtedly the center of the drone industry in the world. By showing our presence in the Chinese market, we would like to appeal to other markets such as North America and Europe. I'm not just picking up the Chinese market. "

Aeronext is steadily moving forward with an eye on the world.
Finally, Mr. Taji responds to the question of what startup companies should apply for this pitch "The 2019 Innovation Nanshan Entrepreneurship Star Contest".

"Are you people who are wondering about innovation and social implementation in the Japanese market?

Many startups in Japan have the impression that their horizons are a little narrow. Now in Japan, there is a feeling that it is better to choose a startup rather than a large company. There are a lot of pitch events, and it's like a kind of "festival" for startups.

Therefore, I would like people who have doubts about such things and think that they will not participate in pitch events to participate in this pitch. I hope this pitch will continue to be a “startup-only” pitch that truly aims for the world. ”

The application deadline for the 2019 Japan Qualifier is Friday, July 26th.